Alan Johnston – reading re Serge Benhayon

I had been in protracted commercial litigation with an ex-business partner for nine years when I first asked Serge Benhayon for an energetic assessment of the situation in order to gain a deeper awareness of what was involved.

This was some months prior to a four-day trial that had been set down in the Supreme Court of NSW and I was deeply enmeshed in the legal consciousness and the shifting sands of legal arguments and possibilities. My company had employed two teams of lawyers in two cities and the legal bills were staggering. One team was ‘leading’ the case and instructing the other team as their ‘agent'.

I talked with Serge by telephone about all this in the first instance and he listened and asked several questions and said that he would consider what I’d conveyed to him. The next time I spoke with him he was unequivocal in stating:

“the ‘enemy’ in this is not your legal opponent, not your ex-partner but your own legal team, they are draining you”.

This was a shock to hear because I had put my trust in the principal solicitor of the ‘lead' team who had been resoundingly upbeat about my company’s legal prospects. While I registered what Serge was saying I felt caught in the legal system and what the next step should be was not immediately clear.

Several months passed and I attended a day of court-mandated mediation in Sydney. Here I met the principal of the team acting as ‘agents’ for the first time. Out of my conversations with him and following what was always going to be an unsuccessful mediation (because there was no ‘good faith’ between the parties) I began to put together and confirm what Serge had meant.

Serge turned out to be absolutely accurate in his assessment without ever meeting anyone but me. After dismissing the ‘lead’ firm (not an easy task prior to a trial) my company initiated an assessment of their billing. Not only did it come out that their advice was seriously flawed and self-serving but the formal assessment by an appointed Assessor was that they had over billed by several hundred thousand dollars. That was the ‘drain’ that Serge had immediately identified.

But it was not just about the money – without Serge putting his finger on the core issue I would have continued to be misled as to the true legal position and the consequences would have been extreme.

Filed under

AwarenessCorruptionConflictWork stress

  • By Alan Johnston, Photographer

    I have studied Social Documentary Photography. Lots of life experience throughout which I have kept a keen sense of humour.